The plans passed the city's Design Review Board with unanimous
support on Thursday, despite some opposition from neighbours.

Located on the northwest corner of South Victory Boulevard and
Winchester Avenue, what's been referred to as the Victory Hotel
will occupy most of an approximately 21,647-square-foot lot and
will include a two-level subterranean parking garage and
second-floor pool deck.

Several conditions were attached to the project at 1633 Victory
Blvd., including adding a fence between the hotel and single-family
properties to the north, making aesthetic changes to the entryway,
as well as possibly widening an alley used by nearby residents
abutting the hotel and adding outdoor seating to a cafe in the
front.

Sevan Benlian, who was elected board chair during the same
meeting, said: "We're talking about minor stuff, but that minor
stuff that we're talking about, I think it's going to take the
design to the next level, and it's going to take it from a good
project to a great project."

However, when the project came before the Design Review Board on
June 14, it was unanimously rejected.

Board members, at the time, requested that Kumar and architect
Nikhil Kamat, a principal at nKLOSURES Inc., completely redesign
the building's facades and employ a more restrined colour palette.
For the most part, the four board members on Thursday agreed those
conditions had been addressed in the new plans.

Some residents living near the project, including Phillip Marks,
disagreed with the reasoning, arguing the hotel still posed privacy
risks to his family and would compound congestion at nearby
Benjamin Franklin Elementary School. He described the project as
"monolithic and intrusive."

Simonian said: "I always try to mitigate those impacts but not
prevent a use because it's next to a residential property. We don't
even have the power to say 'no' [to a by-right use], so we look at
design, access, orientation."

Board member Alen Malenkian said he thought that aspect needed
"a little bit of tweaking and improvement."